/*
 *  Copyright (C) 2002 Urban Science Applications, Inc. 
 *
 *  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 *  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 *  License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 *  version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *  This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 *  Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 *  License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 *  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 *
 */


#region Using
using System;
#endregion

namespace Geotools.CoordinateReferenceSystems
{
	/// <summary>
	/// A set of quantities from which other quantities are calculated.
	/// </summary>
	/// <remarks>
	/// <para>
	/// For the OGC abstract model, it can be defined as a set of real points on
	/// the earth that have coordinates. EG. A datum can be thought of as a set of
	/// parameters defining completely the origin and orientation of a coordinate
	/// system with respect to the earth.</para>
	/// <para>A textual description and/or a set of parameters describing the
	/// relationship of a coordinate system to some predefined physical locations
	/// (such as center of mass) and physical directions (such as axis of spin).
	/// The definition of the datum may also include the temporal behavior (such
	/// as the rate of change of the orientation of the coordinate axes).
	/// </para>
	/// </remarks>
	public interface IDatum : IInfo
	{
		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the type of the datum as an enumerated code.
		/// </summary>
		DatumType DatumType { get; }
	}

}
